I know it’s a bit random, quoting Wayne’s World on a Monday morning, but this is the mantra I’m going with. You see, I’m a little concerned…

What if no one comes to the golfathon? I have a serious worry that I am promising to raise money for our charities, and when we start on the 23rd Jun, it will just be me and a couple of others there!

So, ” Build it, they will come ” is keeping me going!

On a different note, the weekend was a very encouraging time for us. First off I had a good chat with Kevin from The Undentable Trust & am really pleased to have them on board! Why not have a look at their website and see what they are all about! Secondly, an old schoolmate messaged me last night, saying that he just purchased the domains http://www.24hrgolfathon.com AND http://www.24hrgolfathon.co.uk and we can use them to promote ourselves even more! So thank you so mych Jaeson, it really means alot!

Right, got to go, am due to collect my new golf trolley and practice nets to enable me to practice my swing in the back garden. After all, if we succeed in getting a celebrity to open the event I don’t want to scuff my tee shot!

So, at this moment in time, we are currently 147 days away from the inaugeral Charity 24hr Golfathon. And, quite frankly, that terrifies me. This idea has been bouncing around my head for 2 years + and before I know it, it will be here.

Why, you may ask, if you are terrified of organising such an event, are you organising such an event, and infact, WHAT is the event?

Basically, the premise of the event is to play golf for a solid 24 hour period of time. When I first had the idea I thought it would be easy, strolling round a golf course with your mates and raising some cash for charity. It’ll be a doddle that! The thing is, I’ve found out pretty quickly it isn’t all that easy!

There’s the initial negotiation with the golf club, and being assertive with regards to the money we want to get from them, and all the rest. Then there’s the publicity, putting ourselves out there in the public eye, being the centre of attention. Anyone who knows me will know that I am not assertive, and enjoy being “the grey man”, the guy who not many people notice, so this is is difficult for me, but remember, it’s not about me, it’s about the boys and girls who are struggling (and sometimes not realising it).

As the weeks roll on, I shall keep you up to date with sponsorship details, and other corporate type stuff, as I think it important to keep people updated, as you never know, if anyone is reading this, they might be able to help in some way!

In case any one is slightly interested, a little about me. I am a happily married father of one who works with adults with learning disabilities and assosciated challenging behaviours. In a previous life, I was a medic in the Royal Air Force.

My last post was at RCDM (Royal Centre of Defence Medicine) Birmingham, working in the Aeromed Cell. Our responsibility was to arrange the repatriation of injured and sick British & Commonwealth troops (and their families) from around the world. I’m not asking for sympathy, but it was a bloody hard job, often working up to 17-18 hours a day, and quite often 100+ hour weeks.

The start of my working day would often involve meeting a C17 aircraft at Birmingham Airport with injured troops (at that time, our patients usually came in to us from either Basrah, Iraq or Camp Bastion in Afghanistan) at 3am, facilitating the admission into the trauma unit at Selly Oak Hospital, doing patient rounds, catching up with paper work, liaising with Surgeons, Consultants etc reference new patients arriving, then off to the airport again in the evening and repeating the process until approx 11pm.

Yes we were all tired when doing these hours, but it didn’t matter, I had my health. When I finished my days work, I would go home to my wife and dog, have a beer, generally live a nice life. These guys and girls coming back from often Sunnier, Sandier climes weren’t able to do that. They couldn’t jump in their car, see there nearest and dearest have a pint etc.

I often saw young lads, boys in fact, having suffered life changing injuries, and suddenly, I was insignificant, any issue I had in my life was put into perspective.

At the same time, these guys were inspiring, some, having lost limbs, were so upbeat (at the time) about their injuries, telling us sometimes only days after losing a leg for example, of gow they wpuld be ip walking before we knew it! Awesome!

So that is why we are doing the golfathon. It’s not much, but it’s a start!

Fundraising site will be up and running in the next few days, and please also look at our charities websites to see where your money is going.